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Christa Died for Our Sins

28/1/2016

Thirty years ago today, I was a second-year teacher at Klein Forest High School. You know where this is going: The space shuttle blew up, all seven crew members dead, no way, yes way, we have the TV on in the lounge, come and watch.

Today, seeing Facebook posts of Christa McAuliffe's quote "I touch the future; I teach" and President Ronald Reagan's speech in response to the tragedy, I have some very complicated thoughts. Most of these thoughts are about unintended consequences.

I don't believe that Reagan decided that a teacher should be the first American civilian sent into space specifically because he knew that the Challenger would blow up after lift-off. He wasn't sending a message to unionized teachers across the nation, warning them, "You'd better shape up & get with the program, or this is what will happen to you and your precious free public schools." But given Reagan's antipathy toward unions, he may as well have.

Christa McAuliffe's death, along with the other six, was an unintended consequence of America's Cold-War space hubris. It is also deeply symbolic of what policy-makers of both major parties, at both state and federal levels, have done to public education.

82 24x7? Not Quite

25/1/2016

The title of this entry is a reference to the entry about Metro Houston's 82 Westheimer bus that I posted back in November. That particular route (PDF) is back on my mind and in the news because of Metro's service adjustments that went into effect yesterday. Here are the headways for Metro's most heavily ridden bus route:

Peak: every 6 minutes, rather than every 8 as it was beginning in August.
Off-peak: every 10 minutes.
Early Morning and Late Night: every 20 minutes.

Peak time is defined as approximately 6 to 9 am and 3 to 6 pm on weekdays. Off-peak includes weekends. Early and late service, in the case of the 82, means before 4:30 am and after 8:30 pm.

The 82 now runs almost a full 24 hours during weekdays, with the first inbound departing West Oaks Mall at 3:50 am, and the last outbound arriving there at 2:58 the following morning. On weekends, the route gets a break between about 2 and 4 am.

A few other routes, like the 65 Bissonnet (PDF), also get more frequent service. Most of the changes involve adding a run or two at strategic times or adjusting departure times to improve connections between buses.

This is all coming about because, as Metro has reported, its ridership has increased steadily since Metro Reimagined was implemented in August 2015. Here is Metro's ridership report (PDF) comparing boardings for November 2015 with November 2014. In cases like the 65 and 82 routes, buses have been overflowing with humanity (as noted in my November posting).

The Reimagining had its share of initial stumbles. Plenty of riders had their customary routes changed for the worse or eliminated entirely. Others had not been paying attention to all of Metro's brightly-colored posters announcing the big changes, so they were taken unpleasantly by surprise. However, the net result has shown ridership numbers going in precisely the direction Metro had hoped.

To say the least, Metro could still stand to implement some changes in its bus service. If ridership continues to increase, I look forward to some of the sacrificed routes being restored. For example, service along West Alabama Street was canceled with the Reimagining due to the old 78 Alabama/Irvington's low ridership and the perception that it was redundant. If people continue adopting the transit habit, it would behoove Metro not to make folks along West Alabama walk six blocks to Westheimer or Richmond to catch a bus.

I can imagine a route that fills a lot of gaps in service left behind by Reimaging. It starts near Bissonnet and Weslayan, goes north on Weslayan, east on Alabama past HCC and over TX-288, north on Dowling to BBVA Compass Stadium, east on Harrisburg to Magnolia Transit Center, and then of course back the other way.

I would love to be able to ride between home (near OST and Scott) and work (Richmond and Montrose) without having to transfer, but that's not a realistic scenario. The new schedules are supposed to make transferring less painful, especially at peak times, but so far I haven't benefited from that.

What sort of route can you imagine that would make your life easier but Metro doesn't provide?

Ingrid and Patricia: a Non-Review

21/1/2016

Patricia Lee Smith is a 60-something semi-retired widow who lives in a brownstone in Lower Manhattan. Her children are grown and have their own lives, thank you very much. She has a few cats. She watches a lot of detective shows. She is something of a stickler for routine. She has put away enough money to live comfortably, so travels abroad occasionally—sometimes for work, sometimes just for discovery. Between trips, she likes to frequent a favorite neighborhood café, where she drinks a lot of black coffee, reads some, and scribbles anecdotes or lines of poetry in her journal.

And oh yeah, Ms. Smith was inducted into the French Academy of Arts and Letters in 2005, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She also won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2010.

Patti Smith's M Train is an amazing and highly rewarding read. It doesn't pack the same punch as her award-winning memoir Just Kids, but it is worthy on its own terms. Woven between and amid ramblings about finding a good cup of coffee and cleaning up cat vomit are stories that make you wonder whether Patti is making them up, or whether she actually dwells in the dimension of fiction. I always loved her first "comeback" album, Dream of Life, released in 1988; this book fuses life and dreams in ways I've never encountered outside of a novel.

Jello for Prez? Not This Year

13/1/2016

Observation: Donald Trump or Ted Cruz may compete for the Republican nomination, but they likely will not be nominated, let alone elected to live in the White House. Their rhetoric is too extreme. The Republican establishment knows this. It uses those extreme positions to make other presidential candidates, such as Marco Rubio, look moderate and reasonable by comparison, thus more acceptable to the broader electorate.

Question: Why doesn't the Democratic Party employ this same tactic with a candidate on the far left?

Don't EVEN try to tell me that Bernard Sanders is an extreme lefty: In Europe, he'd be slightly left of center, fitting in with Labour Party pre–Tony Blair.

For that matter, there was nothing extreme about Dennis Kucinich or Jesse Jackson. The Democratic Party used them for a different purpose, showing the nation that there is room in the Big Blue Tent for progressive views, and then gently telling the nation that progressive candidates are unelectable.

But "extreme" is all a matter of perspective, innit? Plenty of Republicans view Hillary Clinton as the second coming of Trotsky, and President Obama further left than that.

Jello Biafra is supporting Bernie this year. When Jello ran for the Green nomination in 2000, he ran a fairly quiet campaign, and he all but withdrew when Ralph Nader announced his candidacy. I'd love to see Jello run as the Democrats' answer to Trump, spewing things just as outrageous but without all the racism/sexism/ableism/sectarianism etc.

New Year's Resolution: Blog More!

12/1/2016

Not that the Internet is suffering from a shortage of content—or even a shortage of my content—but I need to contribute to this blog thing more frequently. After all, I'm paying for it.

The information below is a modified excerpt from an email blast that I wound up not sending to Green Party fans in Harris County today. But it sums up what 2016 is going to look like for us Green folk in the Houston area and across Texas. To put it succinctly, if we want to guarantee Green presence on the 2018 ballot, we'll need to campaign our asses off in 2016.

Here is what I'm sacrificing a goodly chunk of my social life for in the coming year.

General MeetingsThe HCGP General Business Meetings continue to be held the fourth Monday of each month, beginning at 7 pm. Currently, the location for these meetings is Trinity Episcopal Church, 1015 Holman Street in Midtown. We meet upstairs in the choir rehearsal room. The meeting for 22 February will be very important, as we hope to ratify changes to our bylaws and elect news members to our Steering Committee. Come see people-powered political organizing in action!

Community GatheringsHCGP's Outreach Workgroup is beginning a new initiative called Green Community Gatherings. The plan is to combine the best ingredients of General Business Meetings and the G3 discussion groups. We hope to bring in community leaders from various organizations to provide tools and techniques for creating the world we envision, with politics and economy based on compassion. The first gathering is scheduled for 8 February, continuing on the second Monday of alternating months. The location is yet to be determined; we will let you know when we have it officially set.

Candidates for 2016In Texas, the deadline to file the forms to run for office in 2016 happened in mid-December 2015. (Remember that if you intend to run for office in 2018.) Statewide, nearly 50 Greens filed to run for various federal, state, and county positions. (NOTE: I am not one of the 50.) As of now, in Harris County, we have:

two candidates for county-wide offices
six candidates for statewide offices, including Railroad Commission and five of the judicial positions up for election
two candidates for the Texas House and one for the State Board of Education
four candidates for the US House from districts wholly or partly in the county

There are also five candidates pursuing the presidential nomination at our national convention in August (see below).

5% in a Four-Way RaceHere is the most important news of all: In order to guarantee a ballot line in Texas in 2018, a Green Party candidate must win at least 5% of the vote in a statewide race*. The Democratic Party has candidates in all the statewide races for Railroad Commission, Supreme Court, and Court of Criminal Appeals. Since 2000, the best Texas Green polling against both major parties in a statewide race is about 2%. Martina Salinas got that 2% when she ran for a Railroad Commission seat in 2014. Now for the good news: She has filed to run again in 2016. 5% is attainable, but it will require some People Power. Are you ready to be part of that effort?

Local and State Nominating ConventionsWe will announce the locations and times for our precinct, county, and district nominating conventions soon. The state convention will happen in San Antonio. The dates below are according to the Texas Secretary of State's calendar and cannot be changed.

Precinct Conventions will happen all in one location Tuesday 8 March. We will nominate precinct chairs and delegates to the County Convention.
The County Conventions will take place Saturday 12 March. We will officially nominate candidates for county offices, seats in the Texas House, and Congressional seats wholly within Harris County, as well as delegates to the State Convention.
District Conventions, happening Saturday 19 March, are for nominating candidates for positions that represent more than one county, such as US House District 36.
The GPTX State Convention returns to San Antonio, where the Party held its 2012 Convention. This will take place over the weekend of 9 April.

Presidential Nominating Convention at UHThere is nothing like a national convention to help "political minorities" like us remember that we are not alone! The Green Party of the United States comes to Houston 4-7 August, convening at the University of Houston to nominate its presidential ticket. Of course, there will be much more to it than that: finalizing the national platform, organizing workshops, appearances by progressive activists and writers, fundraising activities, and a protest demonstration or two. There are volunteering opportunities aplenty. Come to one of our monthly meetings to learn more.

______

* The consequence of failing to poll 5% in at least one statewide race is not fun at all. Within a 75-day period after the 2018 primary elections, the Green Party of Texas would need to collect about 47,000 signatures from voters registered in Texas who skip primaries.

You'd think that would be easy, since only about 15% of registered voters typically vote in off-year primaries. That leaves about 10 million who don't. But it's surprisingly difficult: GPTX succeeded in 2000 and 2010, but fell short in 2004, '06, and most painfully in '08. The 2010 drive succeeded mostly because we were able to pay people to collect signatures. The hardest part is convincing eligible signatories that their addresses will not be sold to mailing lists or that we're not working for the NSA.

Christa Died for Our Sins

82 24x7? Not Quite

Ingrid and Patricia: a Non-Review

Jello for Prez? Not This Year

New Year's Resolution: Blog More!

DBC Sez...

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